Several names have been agreed on for the new technocrat government being compiled by Fatah and Hamas officials in Cairo, a party member told Ma’an on Tuesday.

From Gaza City, Fatah national relations official Diab Al-Loh assured that progress was being made in the now nearly three-week long wait for the announcement of a new government, following the signing of a unity deal on 4 May.

Al-Loh said none of the names would be announced until the government was set, and meetings between all factions were concluded.

"The meetings have moved on to a second stage," the official explained, "we are now talking about increasing national partnerships."

Delegates in Cairo are expected to name members of a transitional government of technocrats, form the outlines of the government agenda for the next year, and begin the process of reconciliation including setting in place mechanisms for the release of political prisoners and the reintegration of West Bank and Gaza security services.

The next meeting between Fatah and Hamas in Cairo is "soon," he told Ma’an, and will focus on the restructuring of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee.

Al-Loh said there had been no snags in the process, despite the time it has taken to make progress, elaborating only by saying "we need time and cooperation."

Delegates to Fatah and Hamas remain in Cairo to complete the unity process, following the signing of an agreement on 4 May. In the West Bank and Gaza, however, officials from other factions have complained that they are being boxed out of the process, and last week announced that they would not nominate candidates for the technocrat government.

Faction leaders will meet in Gaza City on Tuesday for talks and discuss how to become better involved in the reconciliation process.

The unity deal ended five years of bitter rivalry following the dissolution of the unity government in 2007. Hamas had been elected into power in 2006, but boycotts by the international community and the resulting cessation of aid money to the government lead to its collapse and reformulation. Infighting lead to a near civil war in 2007, which saw Hamas oust Fatah in the Gaza Strip and form a government there, while Fatah took over rule of the West Bank.

(Maan News)